75 miles and counting...No issues. Purr's like a kitten
https://www.facebook.com/racerforchrist/videos/10212626545964883/
Awesome work. Looks fantastic and sounds good too.
Mark
Glad you be at the end of that road👍🍺
Yup, with 20K saved in my hip, knowing it was done right.... ;D
How many man hours? Well worth your efforts, which seems to be a common thread when dealing with even "professional" factory authorized shops. Shove them in, shove them out ASAP, attention to detail, or standard of care seem to be old school. I guarantee the end result would look nothing like yours. I salute you. ^.^d ^.^d
Grace,notice you have a similar CAC as mine,if you haven't done it yet,take the louvers off and look where the top and bottom
of the CAC mounts,the tabs are aluminum and 3 out of four on mine were broken,it was being held by one tab and the hoses.
Thanks. Well it took a year of constant research off and on. But actual physical time was about 80 hrs, including my friends time of maybe 30 hrs. The fastest thing was assembling it complete, then putting it in. Only took a day to hook everything to it, then oil and coolant.
I am with you about having a professional do it. From what I see these day's, tech's just throw parts at something till it works. They don't know how to fix stuff.You pay to train them. I can tell you story after story that my customers tell me.
That coupled with the 'F' word "FLAT RATE", it's no wonder. Tell me how a tech can flag 200+ hours in a 40 hour work week? Ask me how I know. Flat Rate is a licenses to lie, cheat and steal.
Not saying all techs are bad. One things for sure, every bolt and nut is ck'd, ck,'d ck'd and double ck'd. With lock tight on them.
Ever part is new, or in prefect used condition, heavily checked over, then cleaned and painted.
Chris
I pretty sure the flat rate is now hyperinflated, as all vocational training in public schools has been discontinued in favor of total college prep. No real life skills being taught. No problem solving ability, just stare at a sometimes bogus computer screen that is presented by programming experts that have never spun a wrench. I'm a year into training a tech who's never made any outside effort into discovering the HVAC trade that is paying his salary. I graduated engineering school with 172 credit hours and quickly found out i didn't know shit from shinola. Dug my heels into it and now unfortunately i am the only go to guy in the office. End of rant. Your pride in your work speaks volumes, rock on, and be a winner, instead of an also ran.
Thank you for the compliment, and back at you. Respect for you man.....When I fix something, people say "wow, your so smart". I say no, just experienced that before. Like a tech plugging a refer into the inverter outlet, and the ice maker into shore outlet.Gee why does my batts go down, besides, I leave the inverter on all the time.
I am with you, I did terrible in school, I hated it. Car's ,surfing and girls were more important. My mom helped me get graduated. I had to take 2 auto shops in my senior years (we had split days 2 sessions), then a welding shop at night at the JC to get my diploma. I was horrible in math.
All my schooling was hard knocks like you, and skinned knuckles.When I did my 1st van conversion, I was poor, but determent. I started out cutting the metal roof out, with a carbon blade in a skill saw. When the 2 blades went bad, I picked up the hand shears, and cut the last 3/4's of the roof out.
If some says "You can;t do that " then I will, just because they ticked me off!
Rock on too brother
Chris
Worked on many big Cat and Waukesau engines,was lucky most of them were rentals owned by the company we worked for,we
were able to do it right and not worry about a customer trying to save money by cutting corners.
Did a few Cat engines myself. Had DW hold dated newspaper to show when I had rebuilt the engine.
Way cool. Wish our 3126 had liners, would have made it easier. They really aren't that complicated. As I mentioned, once I saw it inside, and the quality of Cat parts, I like them better.
The 2 piece pistons are a trip, but make sense.
Looks like you did a 1st class job.
Chris
Did alot where we had a liner puller and used a crane to lift the liner out.We would use the old lanolin gojo to lubricate the seals.
The pistons are one piece must be photo angle.
My friend has a boring bar. Could have bored it to 50 thou in the coach (what it would have taken to straighten it out). But could only buy a 40 thou piston. He didn't feel he could do a good job putting a sleeve in the coach.
We tried
Back in the day I had a portable crank grinder turn rod throws in the trucks. He only charged a hundred bucks. used the engine starter motor and hung a device on the throw. A skill long forgotten.
"Back in the day I had a portable crank grinder turn rod throws in the trucks. He only charged a hundred bucks. used the engine starter motor and hung a device on the throw. A skill long forgotten."
And when I was a kid delivering parts for my dad I knew how to mic a crankshaft. You just needed to know those things back then.
When I was beside the road and the propellor shaft had just yanked the speed sensor out of the Allison I went to the next town in the Jeep thinking some coolant sensor pigtail would get us going. I almost never convinced the counter guy to loan me the picture book instead of trying to look up Foretravel on the computer. (By the way it was the same as a Chevy cobalt or something like that. We were going within an hour.)
I can remember when rebuilding air cooled VW engines using valve lap/grind paste on the cylinders to "polish" the heads. Normally upped compression by 5 PSI or so. Really good seal, since there was no gasket!
I've got three air cooled beetle convertibles. You can't drive one without knowing how to pull the engine. Ha.
Yes, I have "pulled" and overhauled them all over the world. Most bazar was in Gorgan, Iran (on the Caspian sea) in the early 1970's. No parts for a 1500 CC bus engine at at VW dealer?????? Rebuilt it as a 3 cylinder and drove it (bus, third gear) to Kabul. That whole trip was CRAZY!
Your life more interesting than mine.
Reminds me of my dad and his brother telling the story about taking the bad piston out of a model A and cutting a stump to hammer in the hole.
Good old days? I'm not too sure about that.
The DW put s set of jugs in her VW motor whith it setting on the kitchen table.
Can we call you the "Wolf of Iran",impressive trip Brett.
All great stories
We pulled 2 push rods out of an Ford Econoline 6, took the plug wire off, and drove it 300 miles to and from the Colorado River from Palm Springs (where the trouble started), and back to Orange County.It had a hole in the piston.
Remember when you took your crank shaft to Napa, and they exchanged it for another turned one with new rod/main bearings for $35.00!
I assembled a 389 Pontiac in my bedroom apartment. There was a side door to get it out.I got evicted!
One night when I worked in a gas station in Orange, I picked up a Napa crank kit. My 65 Dodge A-100 Van (pictured) had a slight rod knock. I kept putting a new bearing in it, but it kept coming back. I was surfing in Mexico all the time, so didn't want to take a chance.
I started at around 3 PM at the station which was my shift. While waiting on cars (remember when gas stations did that), I dropped the pan, trans,ETC. (on the hoist) and installed the new crank and bearings in the van. I cleaned up and went home at 11 PM. All this with out pulling the engine box sides or anything. I did pull the timing cover to do the chain. Ran fine after that.
I totally rebuilt a vw motor in my dorm room, when confronted going down the elevator and out the lobby with it. I told them it was a school project. All good. A millisecond after i said i do, my new wife informed me she dosent do repairs. That's ok because i warned her i don't paint or do sheetrock, wallpaper, or picture hanging. And why the hell do you ask me what i think, like it matters.
While we are telling stories. 46 Chev Convertible, burned up the clutch on Friday nite, on Saturday, removed tranny and replaced clutch in driveway in time to get to dance that nite. I did know that you could not do things like that.
Gary B
OK, to take this one "further astray":
Newly married. We were living in Dallas. Had a job interview in Sunnyvale, CA on Monday. Had a nice 1971 VW pop top camper.
55k miles on it (mostly in Texas heat). For those not familiar with that vintage air cooled engine, it was past due to drop #3 exhaust valve. SO, on Wednesday before leaving on Friday, pulled the engine for a preventive "rings and valve job". We are in an apartment, so no clean work space/garage.
You guessed it-- dining room table for the reassembly on Friday. Dianne was due home at 5PM when we would leave. She was NOT, repeat NOT supposed to be home for lunch. Surprise, she came home for lunch. Boy was she in for a surprise. And, as she informed me in no uncertain terms the surprise was on ME. Caught red (actually oily) handed.
She went back to work, engine fully assembled (did sheet metal in the parking lot), stabbed it and we left at 5PM. Pulled into Sunnyvale Sunday PM. Yes, did the 1,000 mile oil change and then valve adjustment on the road.
It is truly amazing how many ways boys can find to get put in time out!
1967 Chevrolet
Had new tires put on all the way around. Noticed muffler had rotted thru and tailpipe was pretty bad. Had new exhaust system put on.
Driving home I noticed valves making too much noise. Found out the camshaft had soft lobes on that year 302 V8.
No garage so car pointed toward the back of our (new) white house so tools were close. Sunny all day, not a cloud. I wore shorts, shoes, and nothing else. Changed camshaft and lifters, done about 6:00 PM after four hours work on the engine.
DW helped me remove grease and dirt spots from my body. Turns out they acted like sunscreen. Rest of me was beet red.
Went to bed, got up at 4:00AM and we drove to Houghten/Hancock on Lake Superior by noon, then drove back to Wausau and spent the night. Next morning to Tigerton and then to Elkhart for a softball tournament, then back to Fond du Lac. Car ran great.
Norm,
We ALL hope this was a LONG time ago. Yes, I work that "uniform" (and looked pretty good in it"), but as with machinery, time is NOT your friend!
Three of us had identical painted Chevy orange 327 cu inch v8's with the same corvette 7 fin valve covers and the same 3310 Holley single carbs.
After Friday street races we would get together and figure out who was racing who Saturday night.
Internally the motors varied a lot.
We had a cherry picker and were extremely practiced at the installs and could sway all three motors between the three cars(two 58 vettes and a 65 chevelle) in three hours. No fluid losses as we pulled the engine and trans with the driveshaft still in.
Guys would want to see under your hood prior to racing. Looked the same. No block serial numbers as they were from the parts dept.
Everyone lost by two car lengths no matter their mods. No money. Just for fun
What model Chevy did you have, the only 302 available in 67 was the DZ 302, it only came in the Camaro's, it used the Duntov 30/30 camshaft and solid lifters, as hot roders we were building 302's in late 62 with a 327 block and a 283 truck steel crank.
Hmmm, maybe 307? Memory is slowly going. Impala
That would be the base v-8 for that year.
So my HS buddy had a yenko 302 camaro that ran like heck, i assume because it was oversqaure 327 with the 283 crank. No match for the 71 boss 429 mustang that got offered me for $3500. Headbutt, headbutt. Just didn't have the financial means at that time, and hey i might of killed myself in that car.
Running like a Swiss watch. 200 miles to Sandpoint the long way for fish Taco's. Beautiful ride along Priest River and fall colors . No codes, perfect oil PSI, temp and boost. Oil clean as a whistle, and NO usage.No leaks or drips
Wenatchee and Leavenworth next weekend.
Chris
Almost worth keeping?
Volkswagen story. Driving through Dodge City KS at three in the morning on a Sunday and it was driving rain. My 66 Baja bug started bucking and then just quit. I got out and checked for spark and didn't have any. When I lifted the distributor cap the center post had "blown off" of the cap. Knowing there would not be a parts store open probably until Monday, I knew I had to come up with something.
I had a pop rivet gun in the tool box, so I pulled the center out of a pop rivet, and carefully balanced the rivet part on the top of the rotor contact. After carefully setting the cap back on and snapping it in place, I said a prayer and fired it up. I ended up driving all the way to Tulsa, and around the town for a week. Finally bought a new cap before heading back to CO.
Fun times
Len
Gracerace you should be good to go, for the next 300k miles before the engine needs major service again ^.^d ^.^d ^.^d what's not to love. They advise me to roll the connecting rod bearings at 150k, is that just swapping the top and bottom bearing shells on the connecting rods?
Yes, but not sure if you need to do that. If it ain't boken, don't fix it!
Mine were fine, I just did the rod bearing's and rings only, had the head freshened.But the motor looked perfect inside, just one stupid $8.00 broken oil ring. it ran fine before.
Chris
When I was a diesel mechanic, on trucks with the 3208 it was standard to roll in new mains and replace the rod bearing at 150K very easy and not expensive. The reasoning was that would be where the most wear would take place.
Craneman so roll in, means replacement, wasn't quite sure what that term meant. So just drop the pan and bearing caps and and rotate new ones in, plasta gauge em after torque em. Sounds too easy. At 94k my oil pressure is above specs.
I guess you could plasti gauge them, but we never did. Putting new standard bearing in never should be tighter that when new.
You dont need to plasticgauge them , just verify that the old bearings are standard and swap in the same size.
Drop pan, loosen rod nuts, tap the bolts to back the rod up a little. Remove rod cap and use a pen or small scribe to pop the upper bearing loose and it will "roll out" away from the keeper notch.
Ahhh..spent my first Honeymoon @ Priest River in a 49 Ford F! p/u with a cabover ......
UPDATE:
1st major run yesterday and today. Leavenworth Washington from Post Falls Idaho.
No codes, no errors, engine bay looks and smells fresh and new.
NO oil leaks. No oil usage. Oil still looks brand new (barely could read it on the stick it's so clean). 10/30 Delvac.
Oil pressure at 62 MPH 50 PSI, At 70 MPH 60+.
Better then 9 miles per gallon, no tail wind, no tow car, full of water and fuel. 62 MPH @1700-1750 RPM's
Engine fired right up in 40 degree temp, no block heater.
Bedroom doesn't smell like a old dump truck!
753 miles and counting.
Graceracer were the pictures taken in Leavenworth WA? Looks like a very neat town.
Chris